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Clear timetable needed for decision on school closure process: Myers

Posted|March 17, 2017

Georgetown – The
MacLauchlan government needs to share a clear timetable with Islanders about
when and how they will learn the fates of their schools, says Georgetown-St.
Peters MLA and Opposition Education Critic Steven Myers.

“For
close to six months now parents, students, teachers and communities have been
dealing with an uncertain future for their schools due to this government’s
school change policy. The message I keep hearing is that when a final decision
is made that it needs to happen at a public meeting, not in secret behind closed
doors,” says Myers.

According
to the Public Schools Branch School Change Policy a final decision by the Board
of Directors on any school closures or major rezoning of students must be
approved within 60 days of the end of public consultations. That period closed
on March 11. Regularly scheduled Public Schools Branch Board meetings were
cancelled in February and March following the start of the second phase of
consultations on the school closure process.

“This
uncertainty is creating a lot of stress and anxiety for students, parents and
teachers. After two rounds of consultations most people aren’t any clearer on
how the next steps will unfold. This government set this process in motion so it
has a responsibility to lay out a clear timetable for what comes next,” says
Myers.